SAN ANTONIO — The Orlando Magic had a chance to beat the San Antonio Spurs — or what remained of the Spurs — on Wednesday night.

Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Kawhi Leonard and DeJaun Blair never stepped on the court. Tim Duncan played just 14 minutes, all of them in the first half.

But the players Gregg Popovich put onto the court proved they have plenty to teach the Magic’s youngsters. A group of Spurs reserves used a 15-2 fourth-quarter run to break open a close game and beat the Magic 98-84 at AT&T Center.

"They're just a team that's been there, done that over and over again," Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said.

"They were able to capitalize on our lack of small details, and those things matter on every possession, whether it's boxing out, whether it's coming over from the weak side, whether it's contesting without fouling, whether it's screening on an offensive play."

The Magic made just 38.9 percent of their shots, compiled 16 personal fouls to the Spurs' eight and gave up 10 3-pointers.

The Magic cut the Spurs' lead to 74-70 with 10:37 to go, but then Matt Bonner, Aron Baynes, Cory Joseph, Nando De Colo and Danny Green seized the momentum, while the Magic's offense suddenly went cold.

The result: a decisive San Antonio run that gave the Spurs a comfortable win.

“The group that was out there did a good job of attacking,” Popovich said. “They didn’t hold the ball. They kept a good pace on the court and they played pretty good defense. Orlando had a tough night shooting, which helped us, obviously.”

Rookie Maurice Harkless scored a team-high 18 points for Orlando, while Green scored a game-high 20 points for San Antonio.

"We're young," Harkless said. "It's tough out there. They're a veteran team. Their team is what we want to be. Sooner or later, though, we've got to get there with just playing together and being out there on the floor."

The Magic hoped to do a better job protecting the paint than they did in their loss Monday night to the Houston Rockets.

They accomplished their goal — although they had nowhere to go but up after their horrid performance against the Rockets.

Harkless, Harris and Nik Vucevic each blocked two shots in the first quarter, and the Magic did a better job of protecting the paint, keeping their hands up and challenging shot attempts.

But it's impossible to take away everything from an opponent's offensive arsenal, and the heightened focus on protecting the paint produced an unwelcome side effect. The Spurs made six of their 13 attempts from beyond the arc in the first half.

To be sure, the team the Spurs (56-19) put on the court Wednesday night wasn't the same team that entered the night leading the Western Conference standings.

The Spurs were in the first game of a back-to-back, with a road game looming in fewer than 24 hours against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

It would've made little sense for Popovich to play Duncan extended minutes.

Popovich didn't have to.

"A veteran team like that, they know when to strike," said Magic big man Kyle O'Quinn, who finished with no points but added four assists and collected three rebounds. "They stay hot. They know what works. They stick to their game plan all game. As young guys, we can't let up."

Of course, the Magic (19-57) weren't at full-strength either. Arron Afflalo, Glen Davis and Jameer Nelson didn't play because of injuries, and the team isn't playing veterans Al Harrington and Hedo Turkoglu in order to give the youngsters more playing time.

When the game ended, Vaughn and his friend and mentor, Popovich, hugged at midcourt.

"Those guys have been in many playoff series, whether it's Danny Green, Stephen Jackson or Matt Bonner," Vaughn said. "You can go down the line. I'm biased, but they've got the best coach in basketball, and they play really hard for him."

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